<p><strong>If these walls could talk, they'd solve a <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Maya?source=news_xultun_mural">Maya</a> mystery.</strong></p><p><strong>Five years ago Lucas Asicona Ramírez (far right, pictured with family) began scraping his walls while renovating his home in the <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/guatemala-guide/">Guatemalan</a> village of Chajul. As the plaster fell away, a multi-wall Maya mural saw light for the first time in centuries, according to archaeologist <a href="http://www.archeo.uj.edu.pl/nowyswiat_zralka.html">Jarosław Źrałka</a>, who recently revealed the finds to National Geographic News.</strong></p><p>The paintings depict figures in procession, wearing a mix of traditional Maya and Spanish garb. Some may be holding human hearts, said Źrałka, who was working on the other side of Guatemala when a colleague tipped him off to the kitchen murals.</p><p>The recent exposure has faded the art considerably, leaving precious little time to unlock their secrets, he added.</p><p>That the paintings endure at all is "a fairly remarkable thing," according to Boston University archaeologist <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/william-saturno/?source=news_xultun">William Saturno</a>, who examined pictures of the murals at National Geographic News's request and believes the art to be authentic.</p><p>"We don't get a lot of this type of artwork; it's not commonly preserved in the New World," said Saturno, a <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/william-saturno/">National Geographic grantee</a>. "It'd be neat to see who the folks were who painted on the wall and why."</p><p>(<a href="http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/history-archaeology-news/maya-art-calendar-vin/">Video: Mysterious Maya Calendar and Mural Found.</a>)</p><p><em>—Rachel Kaufman</em></p>